Patents with a Purpose
At Travelers, innovation is part of our DNA. When employees are empowered to follow creative ideas born from their diverse perspectives and unique roles, they find career fulfillment while delivering better experiences and differentiating outcomes for customers.
“Since my early days at Travelers, I’ve seen innovation as part of our way of thinking,” says Scott C., National Practice Leader for Inland Marine Transportation.
Scott would know. He’s been with Travelers for more than 20 years, and he has participated in two of our Travelers Innovation Jams (InJam), an annual hackathon during which employees develop solutions and inventions. Some InJam concepts become contenders for new patents. In fact, thanks to InJam and many other forums, Travelers has filed almost 200 patent applications, 70 of which were filed in the last five years. Also, during that period 44 patents were issued on Travelers’ inventions.
Highlighting Employee-Driven Patents
HomeSafe
HomeSafe, an Internet of Things (IoT) app-based system powered by machine learning, enables homeowners to measure water usage at a single sensor to detect anomalies – from burst pipes to slow leaks.
Inventor perspective:
Our team decided to focus on mitigating water damage after a particularly cold winter in the Northeast. We did an expansive, reductive exercise, listing problem statements alongside technologies we were interested in executing. As we designed the solution, we tailored it according to research-based findings and consumer needs, like having the ability to set ‘home’ or ‘vacation’ modes to inform the system.
Michael G., Information Systems Engineer
Cargo Theft App
The Cargo Theft App monitors cargo in trucks to prevent theft and aid recovery. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) that compares photos from before and after a theft. Electronic chain of custody features ensure an authorized entity picks up the cargo.
Inventor perspectives:
When cargo is stolen, the first 24 to 48 hours of an investigation are crucial. This app makes it possible for drivers to photograph their truck, trailer and cargo, and warns them about areas where theft has recently occurred along their planned driving route. If something gets stolen, the app can instantly send pertinent information to Travelers, vastly accelerating the investigation and supporting recovery.
Scott C., National Practice Leader for Inland Marine Transportation
The keys to our success were our agile mindset and the fact that our team was cross-functional. If I had been at InJam with just engineers, we’d have been coding without a business partner’s expertise. And if our business colleagues had been working on a concept without engineers, it could have remained a mere idea.
Ernesto J., Sr. Information Systems Director and Circle Lead
Wildfire Defender
In Wildfire Defender, AI models review aerial imagery to identify building footprints on property parcels and assess the proximity of vegetation. This generates a defensible space adherence score based on established guidelines, which the app uses to create a wildfire risk map.
Inventor perspective:
After the world experienced several years of devastating wildfires, we wanted to focus on the potential impact of vegetation when assessing wildfire risk in a proactive way. And with the help of new aerial imagery at Travelers, this patent’s success has led to other projects, including AI determination of roof condition and damage for events beyond wildfire.
Stefanie W., Manager, Information Delivery
Intelligent Imagery
Intelligent Imagery applies computer vision models to aerial image data to determine a building’s footprint and characteristics, which it compares with public data for accuracy.
Inventor perspective:
We approached the idea for this system with an inclusive, collaborative mindset, which brought out each person’s perspective. Our team included people from product development, data science and architecture. And from that we could better consider every angle, outlining how our solution would benefit not only Travelers but also our customers, agents and brokers. Now, by validating the data we receive from third-party sources, we save our customers time and stress because we don’t have to ask as many questions before the quoting process.
Murat Y., Ph.D., Data Scientist
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